Do you want cruising to return to what it was?

[ilikeanswers]

Or do think this Pandemic is an opportunity for a reset to make changes that in your opinion would improve the cruise industry? And if so what changes would you like to see? 

[Aquahound]

There's only 2 major changes I'd like to see.  The first is regarding the cruise lines' tendency to build more crowded ships.  I'd love to see an industry-wide standard to keep space ratios above 40.  Carnival's new Mardi Gras, with a ratio of 28, should be immediately outlawed. 

 

The second is the buffets.  No more self serve.  That's beat to death on another thread, so I'll leave it at that. 

[ColeThornton]

7 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

There's only 2 major changes I'd like to see.  The first is regarding the cruise lines' tendency to build more crowded ships.  I'd love to see an industry-wide standard to keep space ratios above 40.  Carnival's new Mardi Gras, with a ratio of 28, should be immediately outlawed. 

 

The second is the buffets.  No more self serve.  That's beat to death on another thread, so I'll leave it at that. 

 

 

Not sure what those numbers mean or the perspective of it.  Could you clarify, please?

 

Gracias.

[Aquahound]

12 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

 

Not sure what those numbers mean or the perspective of it.  Could you clarify, please?

 

Gracias.

 

This is a very rough and very simplified description, but the space ratio is the ship's gross tonnage (internal volume) divided by the number of passengers....resulting in the cubic feet per passenger.  It's basically a measure of crowding. 

 

Now, there are numerous factors that play in to this, not the least of which is ship design.  But regardless, I have definitely felt the difference between ships with a ratio in the 40s opposed to the lower 30s. 

Edited May 25, 2020 by Aquahound

[lenquixote66]

2 hours ago, ilikeanswers said:

Or do think this Pandemic is an opportunity for a reset to make changes that in your opinion would improve the cruise industry? And if so what changes would you like to see? 

Smoke free casinos 

[AdoraBelle]

I’d love less crowded ships, or *at least* not having to deal with things like a 20 minute traffic jam after muster drill. I don’t know if the cruise ships can make enough money without jam-packing people onboard without price increases though. And I do understand that it may be priced out of my range then.

 

It’s interesting that the mega ship / overloading thing got so severe that they actually got separate revenue streams from people who would pay to skip lines, or pay through the nose to access a spot on the deck with slightly more breathing room (Vibe on NCL ships). I guess that’s true for many travel paradigms (pay for your legroom on planes by the centimeter), but cruise ship overcrowding has this unique ability to amplify disease spread to thousands of people at once. 

[navybankerteacher]

“To what it was” -  if you mean before the industry started building (and filling) monster floating malls, yes -  I sort of liked it in the 1990’s.  

 

If if you are referring to the maga ships of NCL , Carnival and Royal Caribbean — I really couldn’t care if they ever sailed again or not — as long as they stayed out of ports I would like to visit.

[TNcruising02]

1 hour ago, Aquahound said:

There's only 2 major changes I'd like to see.  The first is regarding the cruise lines' tendency to build more crowded ships.  I'd love to see an industry-wide standard to keep space ratios above 40.  Carnival's new Mardi Gras, with a ratio of 28, should be immediately outlawed. 

 

The second is the buffets.  No more self serve.  That's beat to death on another thread, so I'll leave it at that. 

I would like to see both of those things.  I like the variety at buffets and that meals don't take a long time, but would prefer to have crew serving the food.  I have been on two of Carnival's largest ships and they felt very crowded to me.

[clo]

6 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

I would like to see both of those things.  I like the variety at buffets and that meals don't take a long time, but would prefer to have crew serving the food.  I have been on two of Carnival's largest ships and they felt very crowded to me.

 

6 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

I would like to see both of those things.  I like the variety at buffets and that meals don't take a long time, but would prefer to have crew serving the food.  I have been on two of Carnival's largest ships and they felt very crowded to me.

We cruised on Oceania and their buffet-equivalent was really a cafeteria-style. They serve your plate with whatever and how much ever you want.

[Joebucks]

13 hours ago, Aquahound said:

There's only 2 major changes I'd like to see.  The first is regarding the cruise lines' tendency to build more crowded ships.  I'd love to see an industry-wide standard to keep space ratios above 40.  Carnival's new Mardi Gras, with a ratio of 28, should be immediately outlawed. 

 

The second is the buffets.  No more self serve.  That's beat to death on another thread, so I'll leave it at that. 

 

Ratios are overrated and deceptive. There are lots of factors that skew those numbers. If you have a poorly conceived main venue like a theater, pool, or club, ratios mean nothing.

 

With that said, I wouldn't be mad if ships did get a little less crowded.

 

Other than that, I could care less about the rest.

[Markanddonna]

As far as ratio, one thing that can overcrowd a ship are packing cabins with many children. I was on one cruise that seemed like it had fewer passengers and that was because it was a TA with lots of solos. Few children and mostly couples- 2 people to a cabin. On the other hand, I was on the MSC Seaside during an unfortunate week (President's Day) and it was packed with kids in many cabins. The ship became very ill and the pool was like people stew (worse than people soup.)  So, if ships allow more than 2 people in a cabin, it can quickly get out of hand.

 

[Roz]

Agree with the comment about buffets.  HAL had already taken steps in that direction that other lines could model.  Also cuts down on waste.

[ontheweb]

57 minutes ago, Roz said:

Agree with the comment about buffets.  HAL had already taken steps in that direction that other lines could model.  Also cuts down on waste.

I can see where it theoretically cuts down on waste, but I know my DW always says that they give her much more of each salad ingredient than she would have taken herself. OTOH, not a lot of people lose weight on cruises like she generally does.

[clo]

20 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

they give her much more of each salad ingredient than she would have taken herself.

I just asked for less. Do that with the scrambled eggs at breakfast also.

[richstowe]

YES !!!

Will it - No .😞

[chipmaster]

18 hours ago, ilikeanswers said:

Or do think this Pandemic is an opportunity for a reset to make changes that in your opinion would improve the cruise industry? And if so what changes would you like to see? 

 

Yup.. I was shopping this weekend at Costco, HomeDepot and just got back from TraderJoes.

 

It was refreshing to see some of the changes, some will be more permanent.

 

Pexiglass at all checkouts with non-contact payment --> on cruise will be similar 

90% mask wearers at Trader joes,  100% at Costo and HomeDebot --> no more is wearing a mask some Eastern thing, good for future pandemics and hopefully anyone sick with cold/flu will wear a mask in consideration of their fellow man.

 

On the cruise; more testing, more stringent health checks, I am sure cases of Nora will be way down on future cruises, prices will be up but embarkation and dismbarkation will all be different with more stringent checks, all good.

[lenquixote66]

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I can see where it theoretically cuts down on waste, but I know my DW always says that they give her much more of each salad ingredient than she would have taken herself. OTOH, not a lot of people lose weight on cruises like she generally does.

When I was healthy I always lost weight on cruises.Mrs.66 and I would get up at 6AM and be at the fitness an hour later.We would exercise for an hour then go to breakfast .

We would walk on the ship after breakfast and after lunch .

After dinner we would walk in the interior of the ship.

[Aquahound]

1 hour ago, chipmaster said:

 

On the cruise; more testing, more stringent health checks, I am sure cases of Nora will be way down on future cruises, prices will be up but embarkation and dismbarkation will all be different with more stringent checks, all good.

 

I can see the noro protocol being in affect during the early stages of cruise reconstitution. No self serve foods, lots of cleaning, hallway fogging, etc.  Ships probably, or hopefully, won't book to capacity.  The question is, what will cruising look like a few months into it?  My prediction is by this time next year, there will be very little difference from what it used to be.  Hopefully I'm wrong but we as a society tend to forget over time.  

[clo]

1 hour ago, chipmaster said:

It was refreshing to see some of the changes, some will be more permanent.

 

We had our first in two plus months  'dine inside a restaurant' meal yesterday. Everyone wore masks into and out of the restaurant and if they went to the restroom they wore masks. We're living differently.

[chipmaster]

1 hour ago, Aquahound said:

 

I can see the noro protocol being in affect during the early stages of cruise reconstitution. No self serve foods, lots of cleaning, hallway fogging, etc.  Ships probably, or hopefully, won't book to capacity.  The question is, what will cruising look like a few months into it?  My prediction is by this time next year, there will be very little difference from what it used to be.  Hopefully I'm wrong but we as a society tend to forget over time.  

 

I hope note, like travel is safer sadly with the new world risks, I think we can't have travel and cruising and the intermingling of the world's population w/o some change, some will see this as inconvenience but I think / hope we'll make some of these changes more permanent, or there will be another pandemic, not if, but when

[ontheweb]

5 hours ago, clo said:

I just asked for less. Do that with the scrambled eggs at breakfast also.

I don't think the problem is how much they give, rather how little of each ingredient she wants. I think they don't give that much because you can always say a little more.

 

Let me give you a perspective on how little she eats. If I bring home a 6 inch sub from Subway, she will cut off a piece that day for dinner, and then do that again the next day. And then she will at some point ask me if I want the piece still left.

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

When I was healthy I always lost weight on cruises.Mrs.66 and I would get up at 6AM and be at the fitness an hour later.We would exercise for an hour then go to breakfast .

We would walk on the ship after breakfast and after lunch .

After dinner we would walk in the interior of the ship.

We have always cruised in the summer as DW is a teacher, and generally in places very warm at that time. Between roaming around the ports and how little she eats, she loses weight.

[Jasawyer]

Uh, YES!!!!

[lenquixote66]

2 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

We have always cruised in the summer as DW is a teacher, and generally in places very warm at that time. Between roaming around the ports and how little she eats, she loses weight.

Both of my daughters are teachers and they cruise on the February school break.

[ldubs]

4 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

When I was healthy I always lost weight on cruises.Mrs.66 and I would get up at 6AM and be at the fitness an hour later.We would exercise for an hour then go to breakfast .

We would walk on the ship after breakfast and after lunch .

After dinner we would walk in the interior of the ship.

 

5 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

We have always cruised in the summer as DW is a teacher, and generally in places very warm at that time. Between roaming around the ports and how little she eats, she loses weight.

 

Same here.  Being able to use the gym every day and keeping active I always manage to lose a few.  I'm not a light eater but don't over do it either.  That is one of the things I hated about this stay in place order.  I was way too lazy.  Only have myself to blame.